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Saturday, 17 December 2011 00:59 |
 Crete Blog: December Days (and Christmas Cake – Recipe Book – hic!!)
A Blog from Greece – Life at The Lemon Tree on Crete
So here we are with just eight days to go to Christmas and where has the time gone? We have been away from the blog for a little while due to family illness but the kids are mostly well (apart from Georgie cutting his back doubles). We are of course drowning in sea of Christmas preparations and losing each other underneath swathes of Christmas paper whilst fighting through piles of parcels that have arrived from family and friends far away.
Charlie is learning his Greek lines for the school Christmas play (promoted from being the snow last year at his first ever school play at age three to reading out four whole lines this year!) They really are quite major affairs as the town hall in Ziros is packed with villagers all out to see the children perform. The two schools in Ziros join together for the event and each put on a little show, with the pre-schoolers (age 4 – 6) going first and the middle school (6 -12 roughly) going next. We are really talking small numbers of children in the village schools but there is always a big turn out. Similarly, for the different Greek festivals throughout the year there are performances by the school children, everyone from the priest to the mayor attends; it is quite lovely and brings a real sense of community to the village. We feel very privileged to be part of this and it is a lovely start to the boys’ education. One of the most moving moments here was Charlie’s first participation in a school performance / event where he walked down the hill in the village with the other children, each holding a piece of a large Greek flag as they went on their journey from school to church to town hall; singing along and with the traffic stopping. It was just lovely to see him both included and accepted; there was no sense of whether or not he would be included – he just was.
November was a month of fire, earthquakes and great political upheavals. When we came to Crete and began our new life in Greece we came perhaps with romantic ideas fuelled by our holidays and travels around Greece and love of the country. It is important at times like these of austerity to remember the love for this country. We seem to be caught up in the daily turmoil of political upheavals and dramatic protests and changes. Indeed, these are memorable times to be living here and witness the changes that are taking place; in truth they are also scary times as the future of the country seems embroiled in so much uncertainty. Will we still be in the euro at the end of the year? Likely? End of next Spring? Possibly? End of next year? Who knows? And what will it all mean…..
We were shook by an earthquake – quite a regular occurrence here and understand why these old stone houses feel so safe and secure! (Worth having a look at the Real Time Seismicity in Greece website – www. bbnet.gein.noa.gr) Oh and in our ongoing adventures with the woodstove the chimney caught fire! More of all of this in another blog…..
December days have mostly been sunny and bright with cold dark nights (thank goodness for the now fully functioning wood burning stove). The children are thrilled by the erection of the village Christmas decorations which means we have a lovely bright snowflake in the sky outside the house all lit up at night (and they think it is just for them!!) We are looking forward to our family Christmas trip to town for a little shopping and look at all the decorations. Hopefully will all be well enough, if not will make the trip a little after Christmas as the celebrations and festivities carry on over the New Year period which is kind of nice as it takes the pressure of Christmas a bit although it does also mean all the children get presents at New Year too! Took us a couple of years to work out why all the Christmas adverts were still on the television into the New Year and it was not until we went shopping for Charlie’s first Christmas and we were asked about the New Year presents. We were like, what New Year presents? Nobody told us about that!! We tend to save any parcels that arrive after Christmas day for the New Year celebrations and that way the boys do not feel left out and we don’t have another huge expense! There are some sunny Christmas Eve photographs from last year of the boys in Sitia.
I am not sure of the link between earthquakes, snowflakes, presents and Christmas cakes (but it works for me!) Here is a lovely little funny recipe sent to me from a lovely friend Val that I would like to share with you (although not sure of the actual source so thank you in advance). Of course please don’t try this at home…
Jayne’s lovely Christmas cake recipe that I swear by and saves me every year to be posted soon!
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: val
Subject: mmm --my kind of cooking!!!
Christmas Cake Recipe
Ingredients: *
2 cups flour
* 1 stick butter
* 1 cup of water
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1 cup of sugar
* 1 tsp salt
* 1 cup of brown sugar
* Lemon juice
* 4 large eggs
* Nuts
* 1 bottle Brandy
* 2 cups of dried fruit
Sample the brandy to check quality.
Take a large bowl, check the brandy again.
To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink.
Repeat.
Turn on the electric mixer.
Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar. Beat again.
At this point it's best to make sure the brandy is still OK. Try another cup... Just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy.
Break 2 eggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Pick the frigging fruit up off floor. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the brandy to check for tonsisticity.
Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something. Check the brandy. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or some fink. Whatever you can find.
Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner.
Finally, throw the bowl through the window. Finish the brandy and wipe counter with the cat.
Bingle Jells!
  
  
 
Our emphasis in these blogs from Crete is on food because that is what we do at The Lemon Tree, but we aim in these little blogs from Crete to also give a reflection of life in a Greek Village on Crete. Simply put, we live here; have a family here and a business. Thus we encounter daily both the joys and tribulations of life in a Greek village, some of which are familiar to the whole of Crete and Greece, some of which are unique to village life; some which villagers alike share or are experienced by us as settlers in this land. Alongside these writings you will find recipes and ideas about food.
For previous blog articles please click on the link at the bottom of the ‘blog page’ and if you are searching for a particular food recipe such as curry or chicken – then type in the keyword in the search box on the website and Hey Presto! This will bring up the recipes that contain this ingredient.
We write the blogs together; mostly the food stuff is Mark and some of the other bits are Anita or what we come to through general chat (or heated discussion, depending on the day….) Mark is dyslexic - he writes a first draft, hands it over to Anita (who puts on her old English teacher’s hat) to redraft and develop, adding a bit here and there; this seems to work!
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'..In his kitchen and restaurant, Mark made us travel through Crete, England and many other countries all over the world. The best experience we had: a surprising fantasy-menu that was especially created for us. We thought we were travelling in paradise! Every meal is a composition of colours, tastes and flavours..'
The Lemon Tree Restaurant
